Saturday, February 17, 2007

Kill your TV

since we married, graham and i have felt that getting cable (the only way to get most channels in without static) was like moving the bottom feeder to the top of the food chain and we had better things to spend on our budget. so we decided not to get cable. we have only had those old rabbit ears, which for us has limited (greatly) our dependence and subsequent consumption of tv.

we didn't ever want to be one of those people who had a tv in their living room or even worse, who had their tv on non-stop. in hawaii we had it in our living room b/c of space issues. in sd we had it in our guest room/office and so it was not the main of our living spaces. we tried to read, talk, play games or just be able to create. graham plays the piano. i like to be outside, gardent, read etc. you get the idea. it was wonderful. we had friends comment both in hi and in sd how peaceful our home was without the tv blaring.

then we moved to rhode island not 6 weeks ago. our landlord had cable before us so we expected it to be turned off a few days after we moved in. we put our tv in a new tv armoire (with doors to close it) in the living room but we felt that since we weren't going to have cable it was ok and when we did want to watch something ie like a dvd, and entertain with friends over, that having it in the living room was the best placement.

needless to say, the cable was just never shut off. i kept expecting it to be but then as i gradually got sucked into tv-land i was lulled into thinking we had it forever. it was a constant subject of conversation between graham and i - should we call and have it shut off? i was feeling more and more guilty that i was letting the kids watch cable (although i was strict as to the content) and since it is cold outside and i am trying to manage 3 little ones and unpack and organize our home, i justified our indulgence. it is free - why upset the water glass.

and then last night happened. we were sitting in our dining room about to eat supper with the tv as our focus (whatever happened to lovely conversations over dinner and a glass of vino? or laughing with the kids and enjoying meals as a FAMILY?) when all of a sudden using the remote was fruitless - we weren't getting any channels. graham checked upstairs and i waited impatiently at the table. yep - no cable. well we said that is that. we couldn't make the choice to shut it off for ourselves so the cable guys did it for us. i ran out to wal mart to get some rabbit ears, but still we got a mere three channels with fuzz.

a pity...and then a FREEDOM. we were not going to run our lives around the tv guide channel! we are not tv junkies anymore. i feel so GOOD. we'll miss Law and Order, the food network, Fox news, and other fun shows but really are we truly going to miss anything? now that we are unpacking, all of our books, our 'old friends' as we used to refer to them pre-free cable days in sd, are being reshelved. they are our entertainment and i am so relieved for this present state of reality.

my dear friend susan has a bumper sticker on her explorer that says 'kill your tv'. i love that. i want one of those.

i was reading a friend's blog and she had a link to mothering magazine. in it i found a great link to an article on tv consumption/addiction that is fantastic. please enjoy - its from scientific american. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0005339B-A694-1CC5-B4A8809EC588EEDFand also check out www.tvbgone.com - i think you will enjoy this site too:)

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